Many of the barbs reported by The Times were echoed by Cruz's
Monday
appearance on "The Kuhner Report," a Boston-based talk-radio
show.

There, Cruz launched a variety of criticism against the
Republican presidential front-runner.

In 16 minutes of that radio interview, Cruz hit Trump for
bragging about his dealmaking ability, for expressing support for
the bank bailout, for
praising President Barack Obama's stimulus package, for once
supporting universal healthcare, for giving money to Democrats,
for not speaking out when Congress was debating comprehensive
immigration reform, for contributing to the Clinton Foundation,
for supposedly flip-flopping too recently on the issues, and for
once touting socially liberal views, among other things.

"Donald seems very rattled right now," Cruz said. "He has been
launching an awful lot of attacks in the last couple of days. And
it seems every time his poll numbers go down, he gets angrier and
angrier. And he lashes out."

Trump has dominated the recent national polls of the Republican
primary and those in nearly every state, but in recent weeks Cruz
has surged in Iowa to roughly tie the real-estate mogul there
among likely caucusgoers. And indeed, Trump
has aggressively lashed out at Cruz on a host of issues after
a long détente between them.

"Ted Cruz is falling in the polls. He is nervous. People are
worried about his place of birth and his failure to report his
loans from banks!" Trump exclaimed
Monday on Twitter.

Liberty University
students posing before Donald Trump's speech at the
school.REUTERS/Joshua
Roberts

Trump has repeatedly and constantly questioned Cruz's eligibility
to be president because the Constitution has a "natural-born"
citizen requirement, and Cruz was born in Canada. Most legal
scholars believe Cruz meets that test because his mother was a US
citizen at the time of his birth. But Trump doesn't seem so sure.

"I don't think Ted Cruz can even run for president until he can
assure Republican voters that being born in Canada is not a
problem. Doubt!" Trump said
on Monday.

The billionaire businessman has also repeatedly attacked Cruz for
not properly reporting two bank loans that were used to finance
his 2012 Senate campaign. Cruz has dismissed the issue, first
reported last week by The New York Times, as a "paperwork error."

"It is a ridiculous charge," Cruz said Monday on the radio show.

"I don't come from wealth," he added as he explained why he
needed the loans. "Unlike Donald, I didn't inherit millions of
dollars. Instead, my dad came as an immigrant from Cuba with
nothing, with $100 in his underwear."

Cruz further said it was hypocritical for Trump to criticize him
for being too close to the big banks. Cruz pointed out that Trump
once expressed support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the
bank bailout opposed by many conservative activists. According
to PolitiFact, Trump also doubted whether it would work.

"It is more than a little rich for Mr. Trump to make that
accusation," Cruz said. "You want to assess who stands with Wall
Street? Then look at the actual records of the candidates."

Cruz also pointed to Trump's
once expressing support for Obama's economic stimulus package
and for once backing the concept of universal healthcare. Trump
is now one of Obamacare's biggest critics.

"Now that is very much a record of standing with Wall Street and
the giant banks," Cruz said. "My record is exactly the opposite:
We should have no bailouts, ever. Period. The end."

AP

Trump also raised a new issue against Cruz over the weekend.
Trump called Cruz
a "very nasty guy" whom nobody could work with in Washington.

Cruz tried to flip that charge against Trump.

"If you think the problem with Republicans is they haven't made
enough deals — they haven't been willing to get along with
Democrats enough, and give in to Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi
enough — then maybe his critique has some force," Cruz said
Monday on "The Kuhner Report," referring to the US senator from
New York and the House minority leader.

He later added: "If you want yet another Republican to cozy up to
Chuck Schumer — by the way, he's written checks to Chuck Schumer,
I never have — then you ought to be backing him. But if you think
we need Republicans who are willing to stand up to Washington,
then this decision becomes far, far easier."

Cruz's campaign has also done its best to promote
a 1999 "Meet the Press" interview in which Trump said his New
York background comported with socially liberal views. Trump
notes on the campaign trail that former President Ronald Reagan
was also once a Democrat.

"He explained that on abortion, he is very, very pro-choice,"
Cruz recalled Monday. "And indeed that he supports partial-birth
abortion. He also said that he was open to gay marriage. And his
explanation to both of those: He said, 'I'm a New Yorker.'"

Despite all this, Cruz stressed that he didn't want to get into a
"food fight" with Trump and that he wouldn't be "responding in
kind" to Trump's insults.